STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Lincoln County
Nos. 99 CRS 5647, 6052,
SALVATORE SIRACUSA 00 CRS 690
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General
Christopher W. Brooks, for the State
W. Todd Pomeroy for defendant-appellant.
MARTIN, Judge.
Defendant was indicted on charges of first degree burglary,
felonious larceny and financial transaction card fraud. Defendant
pled guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to one count of first
degree burglary and two counts of obtaining property by false
pretenses. Pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, the
convictions were consolidated for judgment and defendant was
sentenced to 132 to 168 months imprisonment. All other charges
pending against defendant were dismissed. On 7 March 2001, this
Court granted defendant's petition for writ of certiorari.
Defendant's sole argument on appeal is that the trial court
erroneously calculated his prior record level of VI based on theuse of out-of-state convictions. Specifically, defendant contends
that the State failed to abide by the guidelines set forth in G.S.
15A-1340.14(e) and (f) for utilizing out-of-state convictions.
Instead, defendant states that the State merely submitted a
worksheet which contained a summary of his convictions. Thus,
defendant argues, the State failed to present sufficient evidence
of any out-of-state convictions to support the finding of his prior
record level. Defendant additionally argues that to the extent the
State claims the existence of a stipulation between the parties,
there is a lack of clarity regarding the terms of the stipulation,
and did not include any agreement as to the out-of-state
convictions. Accordingly, defendant argues he is entitled to a re-
sentencing hearing.
After careful review of the record, briefs and contentions of
the parties, we affirm. G.S. § 15A-1340.14(f)(1) provides that
prior convictions may be proven by stipulation of the parties.
Here, during sentencing, the State informed the trial court: “If I
may, the defendant's criminal history I will tender to the Court.
We will stipulate as to prior record level 6.” Defendant
interposed no objection to the State's proffered stipulation, nor
did defendant object to the admission of the summary of defendant's
criminal history. Additionally, the Court asked the parties if
they “certif[ied]” that they had “done it right.” Defendant
responded that he believed it was correct. Furthermore, in the
plea agreement, defendant agreed to a specific sentence based on a
prior record level of VI. Accordingly, under the totality of thecircumstances on the record, defendant's actions were tantamount to
an agreement to the State's offer to stipulate to his prior record
level.
Affirmed.
Judges HUNTER and BRYANT concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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